A kiosk is a small structure or pavilion. It is often open on one or more sides and it is often used as a newsstand or booth. There are five different types of kiosks i.e., informational; promotional; experiential; transactional; and vending. Informational kiosks are used in cities, companies and buildings. They tend to be small because the offered information is specific.
Promotional kiosks are essentially electronic advertising displays to present the goods and services of one or more companies. Experiential kiosks are used to simulate a desired user situation. For instance, simulating a museum tour or a tour of a historical site. An experiential kiosk would show visitors the museum displays and events and also map a plan of time and route for viewing the displays and events. Transactional kiosks allow the users, via a credit card or other payment method, to make purchases which are fulfilled elsewhere and shipped to a designated location. Vending kiosks are employed to process and then deliver the "product" or fund. Typically, cash or electronic transactions are used for payment.
Postal kiosks are a type of vending kiosk, whereby one is able to frank and then post mail in a convenient fashion. Such kiosks are designed to receive the mail, weigh the mail, inform the user as to the amount of postage due and upon user acceptance and payment dispense the postage. Most kiosks have convenience items such as currency and coin acceptors and coin changes. Recently, credit card slots and credit card charging mechanisms have been added to kiosks.
Heretofore, kiosks only dispensed goods or services that were supplied by one entity, i.e. the owner of the kiosk. The goods or services dispensed by the kiosks were dispensed by people or machines. The machine controlled kiosk produced receipts that were printed by printers that could be easily copied or varied. Hence, the prior art did not produce verifiable receipts.